Author discusses her book on raising a gender-creative son in Forest Hills

Julie Tarney will discuss her new book, “My Son Wears Heels: One Mom’s Journey from Clueless to Kickass,” at the Central Queens Y in Forest Hills on Thursday, Jan. 26, at 7 p.m. There is no admission fee, but a $5 donation is suggested.

During a casual conversation in 1992, the Milwaukee resident’s 2-year-old son, Harry, announced that he felt like a girl. At first, Julie didn’t understand what he meant, but she quickly learned that her only child simply couldn’t live within a male/female binary notion of gender identity.

Julie raised Harry with unconditional support and love, but it was a long, complicated journey. She had no role models or mentors and had to do a lot of on-the-spot guesswork. Many experts hypothesized that the boy was reacting to a domineering mother.

In her memoir-style book (University of Wisconsin Press, September 2016), Julie delves into her fears, mistakes, triumphs and full-fledged embracement of Harry’s uniqueness. At one juncture, a young Harry wants to wear wigs at his birthday party. At another, he walks across his high school graduation stage in high heels. Throughout his childhood, students call him a “hermaphrodite.”

There’s a happy ending, though, as Harry goes on to become a director, photographer and drag artist in New York City. Meanwhile, Julie moves to the Big Apple, too, where she becomes as an educator, speaker, writer and LGBTQ activist.